TOM McKIBBIN PLAYED his best round of the weekend to put himself in contention for victory at the Qatar Masters.

The Holywood native hit 68 today, after 69 and 70, with four birdies on the back nine helping him up to nine-under par.

It saw McKibbin close the gap to just a single shot on the trio of joint leaders – Rikuya Hoshinho, Ugo Coussaud and Rasmus Hojgaard are all on 10 under par.

McKibbin had been four strokes adrift of the lead heading into Saturday’s play, and after a birdie four on the opening par five it looked as though he had some early momentum.

He followed that with a bogey on the second, however, and then explained how he sought to take a calmer approach to the rest of the front nine before making his charge after the turn.

“Very solid. I started off slow the front nine, it was playing tricky enough so to get through level was solid. Then I gave myself a target for the back nine to go two or three under, thankfully I went one better,” he said.

“It’s very tricky. Once you get a few opportunities and you don’t take them, it’s very easy to make a mistake or hit a tee shot that just runs into the rough. With the greens being so firm and windy it’s very tricky to stay patient and try not to force it. You have to stay patient and let it happen.

“Everything feels really good. I’ve been playing quite nicely the last couple of weeks, everything feels very solid so I’d say [I'm] pretty confident, but you can’t get too confident in this game.”